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Welcome to BNA Online, the leading source of life history information for North American breeding birds. This free, courtesy preview is just the first of 14 articles that provide detailed life history information including Distribution, Migration, Habitat, Food Habits, Sounds, Behavior and Breeding. Written by acknowledged experts on each species, there is also a comprehensive bibliography of published research on the species.

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Food Habits

Feeding

Main Foods Taken

Primarily small fishes, but also shrimp and occasionally other invertebrates; >50 fish species listed as prey (Atwood and Kelly 1984).

Food Selection And Storage

Takes an array of fish and aquatic invertebrates occurring in upper 15 cm of water in primary feeding areas. Appears to select for fish, especially those not deep-bodied relative to length.

Nutrition And Energetics

No information.

Metabolism And Temperature Regulation

No quantitative data. Individuals nesting in hot environments alleviate heat stress by panting, drooping wings, elevating feathers, standing in water or on saturated ground, wetting breast-feathers and then preening, and increasing frequency of parental shifts during incubation (Grant 1982, Talent and Hill 1985, Wilson et al. 1993). Chicks pant, stand in water, and seek shade under vegetation and debris; adults cool eggs and chicks by shading with body or by dripping water on them from wetted feathers.

Drinking, Pellet-Casting, And Defecation

Unclear whether species drinks water; skimming water while flying may be for drinking or for capturing invertebrates. Not reported to produce pellets. Nesting adults often dive at, mob, and defecate on human or other animal intruders in nesting territories.